Four BVIslanders Earn Top Spots In NBA Regional Camp

Four basketball players from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) have made the list of 13 youngsters from the Caribbean and Bermuda who will participate in what is being called an authentic National Basketball Association (NBA) experience, which will be held from December 6 to 10 this year in the United States.

A total 63 players were vying for the qualifying spots.

The four qualifiers from the BVI are Omar Walker who was also adjudged the Boy Free Throw Champion, Mahkayla Pickering who also emerged the 3-Point Champion (Girls), as well as Demoi Bradley and Shaliquah Fahie.

There are also four qualifiers from Bermuda – Kobie Reid, Caelin Peters, Ish-Nae Smith, and Jorel Smith.

Barbados, which was declared the Team Shooting Champion, has two qualifiers. They are Ivanna Odle and Tower Lorde.

Remy Brewer is the only person from Trinidad and Tobago who qualified for the NBA experience.

Turks and Caicos Islands had one qualifier – Wilkins Sylvain.

The only other country that made the qualifying marks is Antigua, which is being represented by Anthony Greer.

Meanwhile, although some of the youngsters were not selected among the top 13, they received special awards.

Those include the Sportsmanship Awards, which went to Joshua Lowe, as well as Shernaria Morris. The Boys 3-Point Champion is Lincoln Weeks, while Siyaunne Hall emerged the Girls Free Throw Champion.

The competition for the top 13 spots was held through an initiative dubbed Digicel NBA Jumpstart Elite Camp, held at the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in the BVI from October 7 to 9.

The Elite Camp featured the top 63 players – 45 boys and 18 girls – from the Digicel NBA Jumpstart Clinics held in nine Caribbean countries this fall.

That leg of the programme – which is now in its second year – took place in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Turks and Caicos Islands.

The young players were picked from those countries to attend the final selection exercise in the BVI, where the group of 63 was narrowed to 13 by Digicel and the NBA.

The coaches at the camp in the BVI were seven-time NBA Champion Robert Horry, 1977 NBA Champion and former NBA head coach Lionel Hollins, as well as two-time WNBA All-Star Skylar Diggins.